[blindkid] Seeking Students for Braille Study

Tue Feb 23 17:24:45 UTC 2010

What I am guessing the aim of the study is, is to determine how many 
highschool and undergraduate studies college students use Braille, how it 
compairs with their adaptive technology usage, if there is a strong 
preference for one or another depending on the subject being taught, etc. 
For instance, there has been a push lately to get more resources devoted to 
producing braille textbooks for foreign language, mathamatics and the 
sciences, as well as braille music, or if that is not possible, to route 
some of the resources being devoted to English, History, Psychology, etc 
textbooks, to the subjects where Braille is more essential.  All of the 
blind high school and college students that I know almost never use braille 
in things like Literature, History, Psychology, Phylosophy, etc, but go to 
great lengths to acquire braille for math, science and music.  Perhaps this 
study will help by influencing the textbook publishers, the library of 
congress or organizations like RFBandD.  Just to clarify, there will always 
be students who hate braille, won't use it in any subject if they don't have 
to, and love their laptops, and there will always be students who insist on 
braille for everything, including classes like English and for pleasure 
reading, but the vast majority seem to have things for which they prefer 
braille or adaptive tech in a big way.  I have had to pay out-of-pocket for 
brailled music theory books, French books, Italian books and science texts, 
because they did not exist in that form.  And people couldn't seem to 
understand that having my French book from RFBandD was close to useless.  On 
other occations I have had to fight with my TVI, in high school who was 
insisting that I read all of the books for my AP english course in braille, 
rather than on tape.  Yeah, she lost that battle quick fast and in a hurry. 
I was taking eight highschool classes, five music classes at Eastman, and we 
had a book list over a print page long for my AP English class.  I didn't 
have the time to be reading all of that in Braille.  She even went so far as 
to insist in my IEP meeting that I return the NLS books on cassette tape 
that I was using and use the braille ones she had ordered.  She lost that 
battle too.  I just turned 23, and it is too bad, because the study is 18/22 
and I would have loved to have participated.  Ah well, no use crying over 
missed out on surveys and studies.  Take care everyone.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "DrV" <icdx at earthlink.net>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 1:23 AM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Seeking Students for Braille Study


> While this is great, this is the 21st Century - If they really want to 
> adequately prepare teachers then they next also need to look at middle 
> schoolers & elementary school kids ;-)
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "David Andrews" <dandrews at visi.com>
> To: <david.andrews at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 19:01
> Subject: [blindkid] Seeking Students for Braille Study
>
>
>> [Flyer for Students: Announcement of Study]
>>
>> Seeking Students for Research Study
>>
>> Students who are between the ages of 16 and 22 years who are braille 
>> readers and users of assistive technology are needed for a study. This 
>> study will explore how you use both braille and electronic information 
>> for classroom work, and how you learned these literacy practices. The 
>> purpose of this research will be to add to our understanding of the 
>> current role of both hard-copy (paper) braille and use of electronic 
>> access to information by people who are blind from ages 16-22, and your 
>> attitudes and perceptions about both braille and technology. This 
>> information will inform how we prepare pre-service teachers to instruct 
>> young braille readers.
>>
>> If you are interested in participating in this study or getting more 
>> information, please contact me via email at  fmd22 at pitt.edu, by calling 
>> 412-521-5797, or by writing to me at:
>> Frances Mary D'Andrea
>> 5513 Posvar Hall
>> University of Pittsburgh
>> Pittsburgh PA 15260
>>
>> If you are under 18, you MUST have your parents' or guardians' 
>> permission. A consent form will be send to you in braille or 
>> electronically after you verify that you are:
>> 1. between the ages of 16-22
>> 2. a student enrolled in school
>> 3. a braille reader
>> 4. a user of electronic assistive technology devices, hardware, or 
>> software.
>> If you are under 18, your parents will also receive a consent form that 
>> must be signed before you can participate.
>>
>> Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you for your interest!
>>
>> Frances Mary D'Andrea
>>
>>
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>
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